diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index e2a73f16..3c3f25b5 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -239,11 +239,11 @@ _parse_config(t_configuration_options *options, ItemList *error_list, ItemList *
 	strncpy(options->location, DEFAULT_LOCATION, MAXLEN);
 	memset(options->promote_command, 0, sizeof(options->promote_command));
 	memset(options->follow_command, 0, sizeof(options->follow_command));
-	options->monitor_interval_secs = 2;
+	options->monitor_interval_secs = DEFAULT_STATS_REPORTING_INTERVAL;
 	options->primary_response_timeout = 60;
 	/* default to 6 reconnection attempts at intervals of 10 seconds */
-	options->reconnect_attempts = 6;
-	options->reconnect_interval = 10;
+	options->reconnect_attempts = DEFAULT_RECONNECTION_ATTEMPTS;
+	options->reconnect_interval = DEFAULT_RECONNECTION_INTERVAL;
 	options->retry_promote_interval_secs = 300;
 	options->monitoring_history = false;  /* new in 4.0, replaces --monitoring-history */
 	options->degraded_monitoring_timeout = -1;
diff --git a/config.h b/config.h
index dc9c5947..0168bd01 100644
--- a/config.h
+++ b/config.h
@@ -125,7 +125,12 @@ typedef struct
 		/* standby clone settings */ \
 		false, "", "", "", "", { NULL, NULL },	\
 		/* repmgrd settings */ \
-		FAILOVER_MANUAL, DEFAULT_LOCATION, DEFAULT_PRIORITY, "", "", 2, 60, 6, 10, 300, false, -1, \
+		FAILOVER_MANUAL, DEFAULT_LOCATION, DEFAULT_PRIORITY, "", "", \
+		DEFAULT_STATS_REPORTING_INTERVAL, \
+		60,	\
+		DEFAULT_RECONNECTION_ATTEMPTS, \
+        DEFAULT_RECONNECTION_INTERVAL, \
+        300, false, -1, \
 		/* witness settings */ \
 		30, \
 		/* service settings */ \
diff --git a/dbutils.c b/dbutils.c
index 9a21ea49..c8c2b77a 100644
--- a/dbutils.c
+++ b/dbutils.c
@@ -1202,7 +1202,7 @@ _populate_node_record(PGresult *res, t_node_info *node_info, int row)
 
 	strncpy(node_info->node_name, PQgetvalue(res, row, 3), MAXLEN);
 	strncpy(node_info->conninfo, PQgetvalue(res, row, 4), MAXLEN);
-	strncpy(node_info->repluser, PQgetvalue(res, row, 5), MAXLEN);
+	strncpy(node_info->repluser, PQgetvalue(res, row, 5), NAMEDATALEN);
 	strncpy(node_info->slot_name, PQgetvalue(res, row, 6), MAXLEN);
 	strncpy(node_info->location, PQgetvalue(res, row, 7), MAXLEN);
 	node_info->priority = atoi(PQgetvalue(res, row, 8));
diff --git a/repmgr-action-standby.c b/repmgr-action-standby.c
index 89674d0d..66840464 100644
--- a/repmgr-action-standby.c
+++ b/repmgr-action-standby.c
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ static char		upstream_data_directory[MAXPGPATH];
 
 static t_conninfo_param_list recovery_conninfo;
 static char		recovery_conninfo_str[MAXLEN];
-static char		upstream_repluser[MAXLEN];
+static char		upstream_repluser[NAMEDATALEN];
 
 static t_configfile_list config_files = T_CONFIGFILE_LIST_INITIALIZER;
 
@@ -1755,12 +1755,11 @@ check_source_server()
 		upstream_node_id = runtime_options.upstream_node_id;
 
 	record_status = get_node_record(source_conn, upstream_node_id, &node_record);
-
 	if (record_status == RECORD_FOUND)
 	{
 		upstream_record_found = true;
 		strncpy(recovery_conninfo_str, node_record.conninfo, MAXLEN);
-		strncpy(upstream_repluser, node_record.repluser, MAXLEN);
+		strncpy(upstream_repluser, node_record.repluser, NAMEDATALEN);
 	}
 
 	/*
diff --git a/repmgr.h b/repmgr.h
index bc5d114f..f8013d6f 100644
--- a/repmgr.h
+++ b/repmgr.h
@@ -33,8 +33,12 @@
 #define BDR_MONITORING_LOCAL	1
 #define BDR_MONITORING_PRIORITY 2
 
-#define DEFAULT_LOCATION         "default"
-#define DEFAULT_PRIORITY		 100
+#define DEFAULT_LOCATION                 "default"
+#define DEFAULT_PRIORITY		         100
+#define DEFAULT_RECONNECTION_ATTEMPTS    6
+#define DEFAULT_RECONNECTION_INTERVAL    10
+#define DEFAULT_STATS_REPORTING_INTERVAL 2
+
 #define FAILOVER_NODES_MAX_CHECK 50
 
 
diff --git a/repmgrd.c b/repmgrd.c
index 2278f146..c8103059 100644
--- a/repmgrd.c
+++ b/repmgrd.c
@@ -583,9 +583,9 @@ monitor_streaming_primary(void)
 
 					goto loop;
 				}
+
 				monitoring_state = MS_DEGRADED;
 				INSTR_TIME_SET_CURRENT(degraded_monitoring_start);
-
 			}
 
 		}
@@ -894,6 +894,10 @@ monitor_streaming_standby(void)
 				if (PQstatus(upstream_conn) == CONNECTION_OK)
 				{
 					// XXX check here if upstream is still primary
+					// -> will be a problem if another node was promoted in the meantime
+					// and upstream is now former primary
+					// XXX scan other nodes to see if any has become primary
+
 					upstream_node_status = NODE_STATUS_UP;
 					monitoring_state = MS_NORMAL;
 
@@ -930,8 +934,9 @@ monitor_streaming_standby(void)
 					goto loop;
 				}
 			}
+			// unable to connect to former primary - check if another node has
+			// been promoted
 
-			// XXX scan other nodes to see if any has become primary
 		}
 
 	loop:
@@ -1218,9 +1223,13 @@ do_upstream_standby_failover(void)
 	PQfinish(upstream_conn);
 	upstream_conn = NULL;
 
-	// check status
 	record_status = get_primary_node_record(local_conn, &primary_node_info);
 
+	if (record_status != RECORD_FOUND)
+	{
+		log_error(_("unable to retrieve primary node record"));
+		return false;
+	}
 	/*
 	 * Verify that we can still talk to the cluster primary, even though
 	 * the node's upstream is not available
@@ -2185,8 +2194,7 @@ try_reconnect(const char *conninfo, NodeStatus *node_status)
 
 	int i;
 
-	// XXX make this all configurable
-	int max_attempts = 5;
+	int max_attempts = config_file_options.reconnect_attempts;
 
 	for (i = 0; i < max_attempts; i++)
 	{
@@ -2207,7 +2215,9 @@ try_reconnect(const char *conninfo, NodeStatus *node_status)
 			PQfinish(conn);
 			log_notice(_("unable to reconnect to node"));
 		}
-		sleep(1);
+		log_info(_("sleeping %i seconds until next reconnection_attempt"),
+				 config_file_options.reconnect_interval);
+		sleep(config_file_options.reconnect_interval);
 	}
 
 
diff --git a/strutil.h b/strutil.h
index 0771bb4b..75aeb0c8 100644
--- a/strutil.h
+++ b/strutil.h
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
 /* same as defined in src/include/replication/walreceiver.h */
 #define MAXCONNINFO		1024
 
-/* Why? http://stackoverflow.com/a/5459929/398670 */
 #define STR(x) CppAsString(x)
 
 #define MAXLEN_STR STR(MAXLEN)